


on the sea salt sand

by defractum (nyargles)



Series: Tumblr Fic & Prompt Fills [9]
Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - The Little Mermaid Fusion, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-23
Updated: 2015-03-23
Packaged: 2018-03-19 08:23:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3603126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nyargles/pseuds/defractum
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Grantaire traded his tail for legs, and every step burns, like he’s walking on knives.</p>
            </blockquote>





	on the sea salt sand

Grantaire traded his tail for legs, and every step burns, like he’s walking on knives.

The world up here is bigger than he ever thought it would be, and legs are so slow. He can’t find the young man he had seen, and no one recognises his descriptions. He sits on the beach, the tide lapping at his legs, still a novelty, the cool water refreshing in the summer heat.

Even just the town is bigger than he had expected, and the winding streets confuse him, taking him over rough cobblestones until his ankles and hips and knees hurt in a way his tail never used to even after a long day’s swim, and Grantaire’s courage seems to have been spent when he traded his tail, because he can only bring himself to explore a little each day, ending by circling round to the comfort of the sea.

They have ways up here to numb the pain, and Grantaire barters his manual labour for coin and some of the drink, and drinks too much of it. The sand is soft compared to the bedrock he’s used to bedding on, and the drink fogs his mind. He’s not used to it, can’t chug it the way he’s seen old human men sit and drink; it makes everything else ache in the morning, but when he’s had enough of it, the pain in his legs go away, leaving him with the lulling, rhythmic tide of the waves, and he thinks of the young man with tumbling golden hair and a smile so wide his eyes sparkled.

When Grantaire wakes up, someone is urgently shaking his shoulder, and he’s drowning. He’s used to the coldness on his face, hadn’t thought anything of it, but he supposes that the new Grantaire can’t breathe in it anymore. He splutters water out as someone pulls at him until his face is no longer submerged.

"Wake up!" The someone says as Grantaire hunches over, and coughs up the remaining water. He remembers seeing someone drown once, seen the spasm of their chest as they struggled for water until they went limp in Grantaire’s arms as Grantaire had kicked furiously for the surface.

Grantaire heaves in air. The air up here feels thin, distant, instead of a constant press on his body and his body has never been so glad for it. “Thank you,” he wheezes. That’ll teach him to fall asleep in a rising tide.

"Are you –"

The voice stops, and Grantaire eventually stops spitting and looks up.

"Do I know you?" asks the young man with tumbling golden hair. He squints at Grantaire as if he’s trying to remember, and his mouth falls into a pout.

"Yes," says Grantaire immediately. He stops; looks down at his legs, and wiggles his toes. He thinks he probably oughtn’t say anything like ‘I watched you as you slept’ or ‘I traded one of my limbs for the chance to see you again’. He peeks up from under his eyelashes to see Enjolras – as he had heard one of his friends call him – frowning at him.

There’s a bark from further down the beach, and then there’s a small furry creature bounding towards them with a speed and grace that Grantaire has never managed with legs. It barks again, and jumps onto Grantaire’s chest, licking him thoroughly as Grantaire laughs, and fights him off. “Hello again,” he says quietly; when Grantaire had managed to empty Enjolras’ stomach and then not known what else to do but keep him warm and keep him company and help him keep the weight off his injured shoulder, it was this animal that had found them first and then led other humans to their area.

"She doesn’t usually like new people," says Enjolras, hand idling running through her fur as he furrows his brow.

Grantaire shrugs. “How is your shoulder?” he asks politely, because he really should have thought ahead to what he would actually do if he had ever managed to find Enjolras.

"My–" Enjolras starts, and clutches at it. He pulls aside the collar of his tunic to reveal the bandages around it and looks back at Grantaire. "How did you know about my shoulder?" he asks, bewildered "Who  _are_  you?”

"I saw you injure it," says Grantaire simply, because he had been there when the ship had been flung about in the storm and Enjolras had fallen over the railing, wrenching his shoulder out of its socket as he grabbed at the ship and it lurched. "I pulled you ashore."

Enjolras is still frowning at him. “No, you didn’t. I was rescued by a –”

He stops abruptly, and Grantaire waits to see what he’ll say, but he doesn’t continue, just waves his hand at the sea in front of them, and the seed of an idea forms in Grantaire’s mind. He grins, because he can’t help it. “By a mermaid?” asks Grantaire.

Enjolras looks at him sharply. “They don’t exist,” he says, in the tone of voice that implies he’s had to say it a lot recently. Perhaps to himself. He clears his throat. “Apologies. I didn’t mean to get angry. Why do you say mermaid?”

"Because I am one," says Grantaire, made bold by the drink or the hangover or the mere presence of Enjolras, he’s not quite sure. "Well, a merman. And I  _was_  one.” He wiggles his toes again.

Enjolras stares at him for a long time, long enough that Grantaire’s grin fades. Enjolras exhales with a rush of breath. “I was right. I was  _right_ , it was a mermaid. Merman. I didn’t hallucinate it,” he whispers, hand reaching out as if to touch Grantaire’s face.

Grantaire freezes, and waits for what seems like eternity until Enjolras’ fingertips touch his cheekbones, pressing along his face and his jaw until Enjolras seems satisfied that he’s real, that he’s there. Grantaire gently takes his hand off his face. “I’ve got legs now,” he says brusquely, “Don’t go drowning again, I can’t swim as well with these.”

Enjolras laughs, and it’s even more radiant up close, the way his eyes crinkle at the corners and the dimple appears on one side of his face. He shakes his head in disbelief. His fingers fold against Grantaire’s until his hand is enveloped in Enjolras’.

"Come with me," says Enjolras eagerly. "You have to tell me everything."

Grantaire’s legs hurt again, the drink faded with the morning, but more importantly his chest hurts from the sudden swell of hope. He lets Enjolras help him up, brushing the sand off his clothes. “Lead on. I’ll follow.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Come find me on [tumblr](http://defractum.tumblr.com/)!


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